Two-line statement against Hinduism

Two-line statement against Hinduism

Entire Hinduism explained in two lines: Puja was arranged inside the temple, Dalits gave 50-50 rupees as a donation, but when they sought Prasad, they were beaten with sticks. (मंदिर में पूजा राखी थी, दलितों ने 50-50 रू का चंदा दिया और प्रसाद माँगा तो लठ से मारा।)[Due to the small letter, I cannot give the name of the magazine]

Such rhetorical sweeping generalizations are not new in India. Blaming the entire religion for some isolated incident exposes the agenda of the media that published such news more than aiming to reform it. The caste issue is a problem in India, from which no religion is exempt. We can notice caste discrimination among Sikhs (between Mazhabi and Jat Sikhs1), and Dalit Christians from other (OBC) Christians in Christianity2. Racism is a well-known fact in Christianity in the West, as it is in India.3 Even Islam has not escaped from this, although it claims that Islam is against it.4 I need not provide any proof for this, as enough case studies have been documented through proper research by scholars. But no Hindu is going to blame other religions with a similar two-line statement, citing such persecution of Dalits.

If this news is true, there is a legal remedy for this. The affected Dalits can complain at the local police station. Even if the local police refuse to take action, they can approach the Minority Commission. The Human Rights Commission can also take independent action based on the news report. If all of them fail, then the court can take independent action by filing a case against the caste Hindus who have committed this atrocity against the Dalits. So, I am not sure whether this news is real or fabricated, which is possible now considering all the technology available.

To my knowledge, no major Hindu temple discriminates against anyone based on their caste identity. Dalits go to Tirupati and not only have darshan but also receive Prasad. I personally witnessed a Dalit man’s daughter’s engagement being conducted in the premises of a Hindu temple by a Brahmin priest. The marriage was also performed by them, and even his grandson’s naming ceremony was conducted in the same temple by the same priests.

Of course, in rural India, Dalits are discriminated against by other (mostly OBC) Hindus. In several temples, they are not allowed to do puja or participate in festivals. But these instances are mostly related to local politics and issues related to temple hierarchy, rather than being a norm all over India.

Finally, there is a Tamil poem that says, ‘Don’t go to the house where you are not respected; don’t eat in a house where proper hospitality is not shown with real care and love.’ (மதியாதார் தலைவாசல் மதித்து சென்றொருக்கால் மிதியாமை கோடி பெறும்; உண்ணீர் உண்ணீர் என்று உபசரியார் தம்மனையில் உண்ணாமை கோடி பெறும்) If I were a Dalit, I would do the same. I would boycott such temples and never step inside again. Of course, this is objected to by saying that why should they step back fearing other Hindus who refuse to give them their legal rights. But all social-cultural-religious issues cannot be confronted based solely on legal rights.

So, before making any sweeping general and rhetorical statements by blaming any particular religion, first see the agenda behind such propaganda.

Dayanand Bharati 

28-07-2020

1…Though in principle there are no restrictions on dalits entering the Sikh gurudwaras, caste prejudice at the local level seems to work quite strongly in religious institutions as well.  Dalits often felt that they were not really welcomed by the locally dominant castes in the village gurudwaras.  Their children would be asked to come for the langar after everyone else had finished eating, or they would be asked to sit in separate queues.  While the grudwara management formally invited all the others, dalits were not even informed about special programmes and festivities.  Rarely were they allowed to participate in the cooking and serving of the langar in local gurudwaras.⁹—p.184

9. It may be mentioned here that the practice of untouchability in Hindu temples in Punjab villages is much greater even today (see Jodhka 2002b. Nation and village: Images of rural India in Gandhi, Nehru and Ambedkar.  Economic and political weekly 37, 32:3343-54).— Sikhism and the caste question: Dalits and their politics in contemporary Punjab.  Surinder S. Jodhka, In Dipankar Gupta, ed. CASTE IN QUESTION, Identity or Hierarchy?, New Delhi, SAGE Publications, 2004, p.184

2       Returning from the United States with a sociology PhD, the dalit Jesuit Antony Raj undertook a survey, Discrimination against Dalit Christians in Tamil Nadu (Madhurai: IDEAS Centre.1992), not so much to establish that caste was a social phenomenon affecting Christians as well as Hindus as to expose caste discrimination in the Church itself. His study documented the everyday exclusion of dalits from upper-caste churches, the separation of cemeteries and funeral biers, seating, and Communion, and the disallowing of dalit funeral processions to pass through upper-caste streets.  Dalits were still refused the role of lectors or prevented from assisting in the Eucharistic celebration, from teaching catechism, serving Mass, joining the choir, acting in Passion plays, or washing the feet of the priest on Maundy Thursday. Dalit Christians were not asked for contributions to festival processions that avoided their streets.  Dalit Christians were poorly represented among Church leaders, on parish or pastoral councils, on finance committees, or in social-service societies.(p. 210)…. …And despite its “dalit option,” in 2003 only eighteen of the three-hundred-odd Jesuit priests were dalit (Thangaraj, M. Evaluation of the Ten Point Programme for the Development of Dalit Christians in Tamil Nadu.  Chennai: Madras Institute of Development Studies.  2003).— David Mosse, The Saint in the Banyan Tree, Christianity and caste society in India, Berkeley, University of California Press, 2012, pp. 210 and 211

3…There I learned the theological basis for racism. The pastor taught that the Hebrew word Ham meant :burnt black,” making Noah’s son Ham the father of Negro races, and that in a curse Noah had consigned him to life as a lowly servant (Genesis 9).  That is when I heard my pastor explain why black people make such good waiters and household servants…. (p.22) No one bothered to point out that the curse was actually pronounced on Noah’s grandson Canaan, not Ham….Mississippi’s Baptist Record published an article arguing that God meant for whites to rule over blacks because “a race whose mentality averages on borderline idiocy” is obviously “bereft of any divine blessing.”….— Philip Yancey, Soul Survivor, New York, Galilee Doubleday, 2001,pp. 22- 23

4…There were even different Muslim graveyards for the various classes and occupational castes, although theoretically Islam is classless.— S.A.A. Rizvi,The Wonder that was India, Part II, Rupa & Co., (1997), Calcutta, 1997, Six impression, p.211

…Neither does conversion to Islam always dissolve caste. For instance, the Hindi-speaking weaving caste of Julaha have not shed their status as Untouchables by conversion to Islam.  In fact, generally speaking, in North India where Islamic penetration has been deeper (p. 362) and more widespread than in the South, caste endogamy and castewise specialization of occupation continue long after conversion to Islam.— THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF RELIGION IN INDIA. Pp. 362-370, in M. N. Srinivas, Collected Essays, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, (2002) Paperbacks 2004, , pp. 362-63